


Fundamentals of Communication

by GaiusTheGenius



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Fluff, Gen, set after the series, twinyard bonding, twinyards, well neil and katelyn are mentioned briefly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-27
Updated: 2017-10-27
Packaged: 2019-01-25 06:57:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12525620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GaiusTheGenius/pseuds/GaiusTheGenius
Summary: People would never believe him, mused Aaron Minyard idly as his phone buzzed on the table beside his text book, if he told them that it had been Andrew who started it.





	Fundamentals of Communication

**Author's Note:**

> I need to know that these two get better, okay?  
> (I have the next couple of chapters of the Robin Hood AU plotted out but not written, and this idea would not leave me alone, so here it is!)

People would never believe him, mused Aaron Minyard idly as his phone buzzed on the table beside his text book, if he told them that it had been Andrew who started it.

At first, moving away to go to med school had been a relief. A relief, to be able to make a fresh start, where no-one knew who he was and no-one knew he had a twin brother (unless you counted die-hard exy fans, which Aaron _did not_ ). A relief to be away from the drama, the horrors, that had dogged their last years at Palmetto State. A relief to be free from Andrew’s disapproval, to be able to socialise with the other students on his course without them twitching every time he came near, or suddenly avoiding eye contact after a _chat_ with his brother.

But it was strange, he thought, how quickly something can become normal to you. After more than a decade of being without a brother and only four years with Andrew in his life, Aaron had been surprised at how often he had turned to look at Andrew after moving away, only to remember that his brother was halfway across the country and no longer shadowing his every move. He had told himself it was a relief, a freedom he had craved so many times whilst at Palmetto State, but something in his gut, or his chest, or somewhere similarly deep, nagged at him that _relief_ was not quite the emotion he was feeling.

Then, one evening after his weekly phone conversation with Nicky (Nicky insisted. He insisted with Andrew, too, and Aaron could not quite imagine how those phone calls went) in which he had told his cousin about his perfect score in his exam for his Fundamentals of Immunology module, his phone had buzzed.

**_So you haven’t accidentally infected yourself with anything yet, then. Congratulations._ **

For a moment, Aaron had stared silently as his phone, not quite comprehending. He checked the sender.

_??? _

**_Oh yes. I can see how your verbosity wowed the examiners._ **

22 words in less than 5 minutes. Aaron blinked at the screen. Andrew mocking him for lack of vocabulary seemed remarkably ironic. But, if for some reason his brother had decided to finally start talking to him, then Aaron was determined not to let the moment pass, wasted.

_ Nicky told you about my test. _

**_Ding ding! The Boy Genius strikes again._ **

Aaron felt his lips twitch slightly. Somehow, sarcasm and mockery that had seemed vicious and unrelenting in person took on a different personality when communicated via text across hundreds of miles. Seized by a sudden need to be updated on his brother’s life, Aaron asked,

_ What about you? What’s new in your life? _

**_Nothing._ **

Frustration, bitter and sudden, welled up at the return of the curt, distant response. Aaron had put his phone down, face down, and chalked the short, strange conversation up to an eccentric mood of Andrew’s, to be briefly savoured but not to be repeated.

To his surprise, he was wrong. A few days later, as Aaron left for his morning class, his phone buzzed again. Twice, in quick succession.

**_How much coffee do you think I can drink in an hour?_ **

**_In your esteemed medical opinion, that is._ **

_Medically, maximum four mugs per day_ , Aaron typed back, _and preferably not in rapid succession._

 ** _Oh dear._** Came a very quick reply. **_Then it appears it is medically inadvisable for me to attend my meeting with the PR team this early after last night’s game. Better go back to bed._**

Aaron huffed a laugh, slightly incredulous, and tucked his phone into his pocket, an odd feeling uncurling in his chest, or his gut, or somewhere deeper, as he slipped into the lecture hall.

The strangely talkative texts continued throughout the week. Every other day or so, Andrew would text something inane: an observation about people on the bus, a question that he probably didn’t really need an answer to, a smug photo of a freezer full of ice cream. Aaron didn’t quite understand why Andrew was texting him, but the warm feeling in his midriff unfurled a little more, and Aaron started to send some texts of his own.

_ How can someone who got into med school be so utterly stupid? _

**_Wow, Aaron, I didn’t know you were that self-aware._ **

A response, Aaron vaguely acknowledged, that would four years ago have prompted a glaring silence, if not fists. He reflected again how much easier it was to understand Andrew’s tone when, ironically, the communication was non-verbal.

_ Asshole. I mean, this one guy in my course just told me how crazy it is how similar I look to this one exy goalkeeper. _

**_Weird. Maybe he’s your long-lost twin._ **

Aaron huffed, a twinge in his gut taking the humour out of the almost-laugh, unsure how to respond to the reminder of the years they had lost. He didn’t reply, but the next day, when he and Katelyn stopped in the café by the park on the way home from class, he snapped a photo of his cardboard bowl of ice-cream and sent it. The instant reply – a similar photo, of ice-cream being eaten directly from the tub and with a pair of socked feet propped up on a table in the background – made him smile.

 There were some topics that, by mutual unspoken understanding, they did not discuss. Tilda, Andrew’s foster care, anything they had ever mentioned in one of their sessions with Bee. Aaron didn’t mention Katelyn in his texts to Andrew and Andrew did not mention Neil. As their strange conversations grew and stretched across one month, then two, three, there was no mention of anything serious from their lives, past or present. Nicky passed on any major news, like Andrew and Neil moving to a new apartment or Aaron spending the weekend with Katelyn and her parents, during his weekly phone calls. Another unspoken agreement: neither Aaron nor Andrew made any mention of their increased communication to their cousin. It wasn’t close in the way that Katelyn texted with her siblings, all gossip, advice and in-jokes. But it was new, and as the texts continued Aaron felt something small slip into place in his chest.

It was five month after the first text had sparked a burst of confusion and cautious hope within Aaron that Andrew, once more, surprised him. A buzz from his pocket, and Aaron opened the new message.

**_Ugh._ **

Accompanying the message was [a photograph of a slightly chubby cat, with faintly crossed eyes and a rather squashed face](http://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/images/a/d/c/b/exotic_shorthair/exotic_shorthair_1.jpg).

Aaron blinked a few times, but the message did not miraculously start to make sense.

_??? _

**_We got a cat._ **

Aaron scrolled up and opens the photo again. He stared at it for a while, thinking about a reality where his brother and Neil fucking Josten owned a cat together.

 _It’s cute._ He sent eventually. _What’s it called?_

 ** _It is not cute._** Andrew replied, lightning fast. **_And I’m not calling it anything. Nicky thinks he’s funny but he’s not and Josten needs to stop encouraging him._**

Aaron raised his eyebrows. After a moment’s hesitation, he tapped out a message to Nicky.

 _What stupid name did you give Andrew’s cat?_ He asked.

Nicky’s reply, peppered with emojis, buzzed back almost immediately. ??? How do you know about King Fluffkins?

 _King Fluffkins?_ Aaron mouthed the name to himself as he replied, wondering exactly how Nicky managed to suggest the name and survive, let alone get the name to stick. _It’s not even a long-haired cat wtf_

Aaron?? How do you know about King Fluffkins?

Ohmygod did Andrew text you?

Are you guys texting now?

Why do you never tell me these things???

Multiple replies buzzed in from Nicky, but Aaron ignored them for the moment, mulling over his reply to Andrew. Eventually he decided on

_ Cute name for a cute cat, I guess.  _

Andrew, for the first time since their texting started, sent back an emoji. It was a tiny cartoon knife. Aaron grinned.  


End file.
